Armored garment



INVENTOH ATTORNEY nfl J #if I@ J. DE GRAZIA ARMORED GARMENT iled Aug. 1e, 1959 ocr. 4, 1960 United States Patent @nice ARMORED GRMENI Joseph De Grazia, Washington, :ssignor to the United States of America .as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Ang. 18, 1959, Ser. No. 834,626

2 Claims. (Lit. 2-25) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1552), sec. 266) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, withcm the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

The invention relates to body' garmens and more particularly to armored body garments ot' the type wherein the armor comprises a. plurality of plies of flexible sheet armor. Such garments are si necessity formed of scveral pieces or sections which must be connected together to form the complete garment. Such connections, if butt joints, are inherently weak at die join-Ls if such connections are lapped joints, the bullis oi the garment is doubled at the joints.

'With the foregoing in view, it is an cojer. of the invention to provide an improved -body garment of the class described.

A iurthr object is to provide an improved armored gar ,cent wherein the joints bear-'een the several garment sec;icns are so formed and arranged the strength of the armor is not weakened at joints md the thickness of the garment is neither increased nor decreased.

Other objects and advantages reside in the particular structure of the invention, the structure of the several elements of the same, combinanons and soo-combinations of such elements, all of which Hill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the attached drawing which illustrates one of the invention and to the following specilicaon wherein the invention is described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Fignre 1 is a front view of a garment to which the nvention has been applied; and

Figures 2, 3, and 4 are enlarged fragmentary sectional views taken substantially and respectively on the plm-.es of the lines 2--2, 3--3, and 4 4 of Figure 1.

Referring specifically to 121e dmv-.ing -wherein like reference characters designate die same parts in all vizi-vs, 10 designates generally any saleable body garment such as the armored ves. shown. 'the ses'. 16 comprises a 'j one-piece back section i1, a right-hand front section 12 and a left-hand front section 13- As besseen in Figures 2, 3, and 4, cach section is formed of a plurality of plies oi flexible sheet armor which ispreferabsy enclosed in an envelope of thinner textile material. the back section 11 comprises a plurality of plies oi armer 14 and is enclosed by an envelope which comprises inner and outer textile sheets 18 and 17, respectively. In like manner, the right-hund front section 12 comprises a like number of plies l of flexible sheet armor which is sandwiched between outer and inner tem ie sheets l and 20, respectively. Finally, the left-han front sect-:on 13 comprises a core composed ol' a sim mnnbeaF of plies 16 of flexible sheet armor which tn f be coerl by inner and outer sheets 2.1 and 22 of tei. de maerial.

The back secon 11 has rif-c.' and left side portions 23 and 24 which are adapted to la: connected respectivelv to corresponding side portions 25 and 25 of the n'ght and left front sections il and 13. In like manner, the back 2,954,563 Patented Oct. 4, 1960 section 11 has right and left top edge portions 27, 28 which are adapted to be connected respectively to corresponding top edge portions 29 and 30 of the right and left front sections 12 and 13. The connections between these edge portions may be by any suitable and wellknown means. In the embodiment illustrated, the connections are by any suitable separable fasteners such as the snap fasteners 31.

The right and left front sections 12 and 13 have front edge portions 34 and 33, respectively, which are adapted to be readily detachably secured together to close the front of the garment. Such front edges 33, 34 may be secured together by any suitable and wellwknown separable fastener means which, in the embodiment. shown may bo the fasteners shown and described in my cepending application, Serial No. 813,318, tiled May 14, 1959.

To connect the edge portions together without providing weak butt joints or bulky lapped joints, the feathered edge arrangements shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 have been provided. Preferably, the edge portions are feathered by having the edges of successive plies or armor disposed in different transverse planes to give the assembly a stepped appearance and achieve what has been called a stepped feathered edge. As the joint thus formed is the same at all meeting edges, it will suice to describe but a single one of them. illus, the edge portion 33 of the front section 13 has the successive plies 16 of armor so formed that their edges 35, 36, 37, 38 are in stepped relation to each other. lere the edge 35 for the outermost ply 16 is disposed inwardly of the edge 36 of the next ply winch, in. turn. is inwardly of the edge 37 of the next innermost while the latter is inset from the edge 38 of the innermost ply.

The edge portion 34 for the other front section l2 is complementary to the edge portion 33. Thus, the edge 39 of the innermost ply is inet from the edges LEG, 41, 42 and these in turn extend outwardly beyond each other whereby, to form butt joints with the corresponding edges 33, .'27, 36 and 35 of the edge portion 13. This stepped feathering of the joints provides joints which have the same thickness as the basic material and which, from the protective point of view at least are as strong as the main body of the garment. Likewise. no exbility of the garment is lost which is particularly important along the front closure of the garment to permit the wearer to bend forwardly in comfort. If desired, the stepped edges of the joints may be defined by stitches 43, Fig. 2, or these may be omitted as in Figures 3 and 4.

While there has been shown and described what is now thought to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is understood that the same is susceptible of other forms and expressions. Consequently, the invention is not considered to be limited to the precise structure shown and described hereinabove but only as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. In an armored garment comprising a plurality of garment sections, each section comprising a plurality of plies of llexible but relatively thick sheet armor; the improvement comprising each section having at least one edge adapted to be connected to a corresponding 'edge of another section, said plies at such edges having edge porplies of flexible sheet armor; the improvement coming or reducing the thickness of said vest, and separable 10 fastener means for connecting said overlapped edges together.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,042,327 Costanzo Oct. 22, 1912 2,404,225 Green July 16, 1945 2,415,928 Bos-'.mworth et al. Jan. 28, 1947 2,801,452 Adams Aug. 6, 1957 u... mm... 

